Catapulting figure toy



Dec.3l, 1957 H. E. KELLEY 2,1225

. CATAPULTING F IGURE TOY- Filed Dec. 10, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 HQWAD El KLLEY? INVENTOR. HUEBNER, BEEHLER,

WORREL 9 HERZIG,

ATTORNEYS.

1957 H. E. KELLEY CATAPULTING FIGURE TOY- 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 10, 1954 v! I) E R. M m L LZW L T H R E mEEm Ww m E ,fi T 0 2 M W H HW Been 31,, E95? H. E. KELLEY 291799525 CATAPULTING FIGURE TOY Filed Dec. 10, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet :s

HOWARD E. KELLEY,

INVENTOR. HUEBNER, BEEHLER,

WORREL 8 HERZI G,

ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 31, 1957 H. E. KELLEY AW CATAPULTING FIGURE TOY Filed Dec. 10, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 HOWARD E. KELLEY, INVENTOR. HUEBNER, BEEHLER,

WORREL 9 HERZI G,

' ATTORNEYS.

Ajd/UU u. T W

United States Patent CATAPULTING FIGURE TOY Howard E. Kelley, Long Beach, Calif.

Application December 10, 1954, Serial No. 474,362

18 Claims. (Cl. 46129) This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 386,910, filed October 19, 1953, now abandoned, for Acrobatic Toys, Howard E. Kelley, applicant.

This invention relates to catapulting toys, and more particularly to such toys wherein an upwardly biased member forming part of the toy may be manually depressed and suddenly released to impact against the body of the toy, thereby causing the toy to catapult by virtue of the energy stored in the biased member.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple, fool-proof catapulting toy which may be readily manipulated by children of all ages.

It is another object of this invention to provide a simple catapulting toy which has relatively few moving parts and which is sturdy, so that it will not easily get out of order.

It is another object of this invention to provide a catapulting toy which may be simply and economically constructed of relatively inexpensive parts and by means of mass production methods.

It is another object of this invention to provide an interesting and surprising toy which will entertain children for long periods of time. g

It is another object of this invention to provide a catapulting toy which rotates as it catapults, thereby turning a flip or somersault in the air.

Other objects are to provide a somersaulting toy animal standing on feet, to tense the operating spring by depression of the head of the toy animal, to adapt this toy for making, after release of the correctly tensed spring, a complete rotation during the leap andto land again on its feet in upright position, to indicate the correct spring tension by the contact of the head with the ground, and thereby to provide a toy that can be easily and correctly operated by a little child.

Further objects are to provide the toy animal with feet defining the ground level to which the head is to be depressed and to spread these feet so that they prevent the toy from being tilted by the depression of its head.

Still other objects are to attain these results with simple and easily assembled means and to provide an inexpensive toy animal capable of novel and amusing action.

In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafter, the present invention will now be described.

The toy of the present invention comprises a base or standard having means thereon for supporting the base in a stable attitude on a generally horizontal surface. Such a base may be constituted by the body of an animal such as a four footed animal or even a human. In the case of a four footed animal the supporting means for the base may conveniently consist of the four feet of the animal. In the case of a human, it is generally necessary to provide some auxiliary standard in addition to the two feet of the figure for supporting the base in fully stable attitude.

In accordance with this invention, an impact mem her is movably attached to the base for generally up and down movement with respect to the base. This memher is biased upwardly with respect to the base and has a portion which is accessible, when the base is resting on a horizontal surface, for manual depression of the member. Engaging means are provided between the movable, biased member and the base, so that when the member is released suddenly from its depressed position, it springs upward against the base, the force of the impact forcing the entire toy to catapult upward.

In preferred forms of the present invention, the center of gravity of the biased impacting member is offset horizontally from the center of gravity of the base, so that a turning moment is imparted at the moment of impact, causing the toy to flip upwardly and somersault in the air. It has been found in practice very convenient to make the movable member in the form of an elongate, bendable spring, one end of which is attached to the base or body and the other end of which is left free for up and down movement and for manualdepression by one wishing to cause the toy to flip. The free end is preferably weighted. When the free end of the spring is released, it springs upward and, upon coming into impact contact with the body, transmits its upward momentum to the body causing it to somersault in the air. When the toy is fashioned in the shape of a sirnulated four footed animal, it is convenient to make the accessible portion of the spring member in the form of either the head or the tail of the body, so that the spring extends either forwardly or rearwardly of the body to give access for manual operation.

Several forms of the present invention will now be specifically described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: v

Fig. 1 shows a side view of an illustrative embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 shows a cross-section taken along the line 22 in Fig. l.

Fig. 3 shows a cross-section taken along the line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an elevational view partly in section showing a second form of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the second form of the invention.

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the toy shown in Fig. 4 with the operating member in depressed position.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the toy shown in the attitude of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is an elevation of a third form of the present invention. 7

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the third form of the invention.

Fig. 10 is an elevation of a fourth form of the present invention, and,

Fig. 11 is a plan view of the toy shown in Fig. 10.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1-3, numeral 4 indicates the trunk of a toy animal which, for example, simulates a dog. A pair of rear legs 5 having feet 6, and a pair of front legs 7 having feet 8 are aflixed to the trunk 4. The parts 4 to 8 form together the body of the toy animal and may be molded in one piece.

Th trunk 4 is hollow and open at its lower side and at its front while a wall 9 extends across its rear end. The top or back of the trunk may be suitably curved, and its curvature may continue downward to form side walls 11. The longitudinal extension of the trunk is about horizontal.

A flat spring 12 has a rear end'afiixed to the trunk 4 near the rear end of the dog body. Preferably, the rear end of this spring is positioned between the rear legs 5 and is affixed to the wall .9 in any suitable manner, for example, by a nail 13. From the aifixed rear end, the spring 12 extends between "the walls 11 to the front in preferably slightly rising direction.

A head 14 having a neck portion 15 is aflixed to the front end of the spring .12. The portion 15 of the head 14 contacts the front-end of the trunks top from the concave lower side. The head projects beyond the trunk to the front.

The head 14 can be pressed down, for example, with a finger whereby the spring 12 is bent and tensed. The front legs 7 and feet 8 extend to the front sufiiciently far to prevent the toy figure from being tilted by the pressure on the head. These legs and feet are spread laterally so that the head can be moved down as far as the ground level which is defined by the lower surfaces of the feet. The rear legs 5 may be spread in the same manner. The four far spread feet support the toy animal in a very stable manner and prevent the same from toppling, even if falling down in somewhat tilted condition.

A weak coiled spring 16 simulating a tail may be affixed to the rear end of the trunk 4 and will wag whenever the toy animal is moved or touched. Flaps 17 simulating ears may be affixed to the head 14.

The head is relatively heavy, for example, the head is solid, not hollow like the trunk. In addition, the head may be weighted by making a portion 18 of the head of heavy metal. The center of gravity of the head is positioned far in front of the center of gravity of the body and of the center of gravity of the entire toy animal.

The described toy operates as follows:

The head 14 is pressed down until it contacts the ground between the feet 8. This position of the head and the corresponding position of the spring 12, is shown in Fig. 3 in dotted lines. Then the pressing finger is suddenly withdrawn whereby the spring is released and snaps back upward, pushing the head against the trunk from the lower side. The head hitting the trunk with its neck portion 15 causes the toy animal to leap in a particular manner.

The impact of this hit, being in a substantially upward direction, transfers a part of the momentum of the heavy head to the body whereby head and body start moving upward together. This upward movement is accompanied by a turning movement in the direction of the circular arrow 19 in Fig. 3. This turning movement results from the fact that the impact of the head which can be regarded as concentrated in the center of gravity of the head has a larger lever arm with respect to the retarding inertia of the body which can be regarded as concentrated in the center of gravity of the body.

The rotary movement is facilitated by the hollow shape of the body which has little weight relatively to the heavily weighted head. In addition, the slightly rising direction of the spring 12 gives a rearward component to the impact which facilitates the start of the rearward rotation.

By adapting the weight of the head, the impact is so regulated that the toy animal makes just a complete turn of three hundred and sixty degrees during the leaping time of the toy whereby the toy animal falls down on the ground again in upright position and comes to rest again on its feet, whereupon the operation may be repeated as often as desired.

The dimensions and weights of the toy parts, and the strength of the spring can be determined by calculation or by experiment. Preferably, the toy is constructed in accordance with the foregoing description, and then the head is weighted to secure the exact full turnover during the leap.

The impact and resulting leaping movement depends on the tension of the spring and may vary when the head is pressed down moreor less. Hence, inorder to achieve an accurateleap, it is imperative to bend the spring over a definite predetermined way. This is made easy by 4 bending the spring so far that the head contacts the floor. This contact gives a clear indication when the spring has the correct tension. Hence, even a little child cannot fail to produce correct somersaulting leaps of the toy.

In Figs. 4-7 another form of the present invention is shown, this form also employing a figure of a toy dog. In this form of the invention, the body of the dog and the head portion also are made of a relatively light material such as a cast or extruded thermoplastic or thermosetting resin. As shown in Fig. 4, the base of the toy comprises a body 26 representing the torso of the dog and the supporting means for the base comprises the four legs 27 of the dog which are preferably formed integral with the body 26. The movable member 28 comprises an elongated leaf spring 29, to the forward end of which is attached a plastic head 31. The rear end of the spring 29 is secured to the inside of the body 26 at the rear end thereof as shown at 32, while the forward end of the spring 29 projects through the open forward end 33 of the body 26 to receive the head 31. The forward end of the member 28 is thus left free for generally up and down movement. The natural resilience or elasticity of the spring 29 keeps the head 31 biased upwardly.

At the rear of the head 31, there is preferably formed integral therewith a tab portion 34 which overlies the spring 29 and which is preferably biased by the resiliency of the spring 29 into engagement with the upper edge 36 of the open forward end 33 of the body 26. It is not essential that the tab 34 touch the edge 36 in the rest position of the toy, since in operation the member 28 will overshoot its rest position and strike the body anyway, but prestressing of the spring is desired to impart greater upward velocity to the member 28. When the head 31 is depressed against the bias of the spring 29 and suddenly released, the impact between the member 28 and the body 26, occurring at the engagement area 34-36, transmits an upward force to the body 26 which causes it to catapult upward.

As readily aparent in Fig. 4, the center of gravity of the movable member 28 is, at the moment of impact, displaced horizontally by an appreciable distance from the center of gravity of the body 26. That being the case, the upward impact on the body 26 at the point 36, in addition to catapulting the toy upward, also exerts a turning mo ment on the toy which causes it to flip upward and turn a backward somersault. From the structure shown in Fig. 4, it will be seen that it is not necessary to apply a special weight to the head 31. If the spring 29 is made stiff enough, the velocity of the head 31 at the moment of impact is sufiicient to impart the necessary flipping momentum to the body 26, even though the head 31 may be relatively light compared to the body 26. a

It will be noted in Fig. 4 that the accessible portion of the movable member 28, namely the head 31, is located generally behind an imaginary vertical plane 3737 passing through the forward extremities of the figure of the animal, i. e., the forepaws of the legs 27. Thus, when the head 31 is depressed from the position shown in Fig. 4 to that shown in Fig. 6, the point of contact between the head 31 and the finger 38 of an operator of the toy is disposed behind this imaginary vertical surface 37-37, and particularly within an imaginary vertical surface completely bounding the pedal extremities 27 of the animal figure. This construction of the toy insures that during the depressing operation, from Fig. 4 to Fig. 6, there is no tipping moment on the toy, so that it will not tip forward.

Even if one were to depress the head 31 by pressing as shown at 38, the toy would still not tip forward, provided the point of contact between the finger 38 and the head 31 were not too far displaced in front of the vertical plane 37-37. This is because the turning moment on the toy occasioned by the depressing operation of the finger 38 would be resisted to some extent by the friction F between the forepaws of the legs 27 and the surface on whichthe toy rests. However, if the point of contact between the finger 38 and the head 31 were too far displaced in front of the plane 37-37, the toy would tip over forwardly during the depressing operation. For this reason, it is preferred to keep the major portion of the accessible portion of the member 28 namely, the head 31, behind the vertical plane 37-37 and particularly to keep behind this plane that portion of the head 31 which would logically be used as a depression point by the finger 38.

The form of invention shown in Figs. 4-7 also includes platform means in the form of a flat base made, for example, of cardboard or plastic 41 which is of sulficient area to accommodate all four legs of the animal, as shown in Fig. 5. Secured to the platform 41 is a small container 42 having therein a sticky substance such as tar 43, into which the snout portion of the head 31 may be pressed lightly, as shown in Fig. 6. There is preferably formed on the snout portion of the head 31, a small projection 44 representing the extended tongue of the dog. This tongue 44 is pressed lightly into the tar 43 to temporarily hold the head 31 in depressed position.

The operation of the toy in conjunction with the platform 41 is substantially as follows: The dog is placed in a position on the platform 41 such that when the head 31 is depressed, as shown in Fig. 6, the tongue 44 may be pressed lightly into the tar 43. The stickiness of the tar holds the head depressed against the natural upward bias due to the spring 29. After a short period of time, depending on the firmness with which the tongue 44 has been pressed into the tar, the tar loosens its hold on the tongue and the head 31 springs upwardly, causing the contact portion 34 to impact against the edge 36 and somersault the dog upward and over backward in the air.

Use of the tarpot 42 has the advantage of assuring that the head 31 will be released for its upward traverse always from the same position, so as to provide substantially uniform impact force against the body 26. By proper proportioning of the dogs figure, there is thus assured that suflicient impact is provided to just flip the dog over once, so that it comes to rest on its four feet in upright position. By making the body 26 of the dog of light material, a certain 'springiness is imparted which allows the dog to be very stable and come to rest on its four spread apart feet, even though it might strike the surface after the somersault, in slightly cocked position. This action is further insured by the wide spread between the four paws of the dog, both laterally and longitudinally.

It will be noted in Fig. 6 that the point of hold-down, where the tongue 44 is buried in the tar 43 is behind the confines of the vertical plane 37, thus insuring that the dog will not tip forwardly during its short retention period shown in Fig.6. By thus spacing the buried tongue 44 with respect the plane 37, tipping is obviated without having to rely on any friction between the dogs paws and the surface on which it rests.

The accessible, depressible portion of the movable member 28 need not be the head 31 shown in Fig. 4. If desired, this depressible portion may form the tail of the animal, as shown in Fig. 8. In this figure, the four legged animal is in the form of a horse having a body 26a supported by four feet 27a spread apart to provide stability, as explained hereinbefore. In this case, the head 46 of the animal is preferably formed integral with the body 26a. To the underside of the body 26a is secured the movable member in the form of an elongate leaf spring 29a. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 8, the forward end of the leaf spring 29a is secured to the underside of the body 2611 as shown at 32a, and the rear end projects from the rear of the body 26a to terminate in an accessible tail portion 31a. It is preferred to weight the tail portion 31a in order to increase the momentum of the impact, although as mentioned hereinbefore, the weight of the portion 31a is only one of the factors contributing to the momentum, the principal other factor being the stiffness of the spring 2911. As long as sufiicient momentum is imparted to the body 26a at the mo- 6 ment of impact, a satisfactory somersaulting action will be achieved.

As in the case of the other embodiments the movable member is provided with a portion or surface which engages a corresponding portion on the underside of the body to transmit the upward impact of the member to the body and thus catapult the body upward.

It is preferred in the embodiment shown in Fig. 8 to provide the horse with a bronc rider 47, one of whose arms 48 guides the reins 49, the other arm 51 being made of a coil spring and holding a hat 52 which oscillates as the horse comes to restfollowing a flip.

As in the case of the other forms of the invention, it is preferred to locate the accessible member 31a within a vertical plane 37a bounding the pedal extremities of legs 27a of the toy. This insures that the toy will not tip over backwardly during the depressing operation. Even if the tail member 31a is contacted to the rear or outside of the plane 37a the toy will not tip unless the displacement is so great as to overcome the resisting turning moment produced by the friction force F on the legs 27a.

As in the case of the embodiment shown in Figs. 4-7 a temporary holding means may be provided for holding the tail 31a depressed; but preferably the figure shown in Figs. 8 and 9 is operated simply by depressing the tail 31a and then allowing the finger to slip off, releasing the spring member 29a for its upward excursion and impact against the body 26a.

While a simulated four legged animal is most readily adaptable to the present invention the invention may also be employed in connection with a two legged figure such as a human. Figs. 10-11 illustrate the invention as applied to a human figure simulating a clown. In this case, it is preferred to provide the figure with comic elongated shoes 27b which provide added stability following the flipping or somersaulting action. In order to provide the necessary stability, particularly during the depressing operation of the movable member 28b, the coat tails of the figure are extended downwardly and out as shown at 53 to provide an extended area support.

As in the other embodiments, a spring member 28b is secured to the body 26b of the clown near its forward portion as shown at 32b. The member 28b includes a rearwardly extending weighted accessible portion 31b which may be depressed manually and then released suddenly to provide the requisite impact and resultant somersault.

The clowns body 26b is also provided with an impacting or engaging portion 36b to receive the impact of theengaging portion or means 34b on the upwardly biased spring member 28b.

While the instant invention has been shown and described herein what is conceived to be the most practical and perferred embodiments, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention which is therefore not to be limited to the de tails disclosed herein, but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A catapulting figure toy comprising a base, means on said base for supporting said base in stable attitude on a generally horizontal surface, a member movably attached to said base for generally up and down movement with respect to said base, said member being biased upwardly with respect to said base, at least, a portion of said member being accessible, when said base is resting on said surface, for manual depression of said member with respect to said base against said bias, and means on said member for engaging a portion of said base to transmit upward impact of said member to said base when said member portion is released from depressed position, the energy of said upward impact being sufficient to bodily catapult the toy upward.

2. Toy in accordance with claim 1 wherein the center of gravity of said movable member is displaced horizontally from the center of gravity of said :baseat the moment of impact between said member means and said base portion, whereby a turning moment is imparted to said base in association with the catapulting action, thereby to cause the toy to flip upwardly.

3. Toy in accordance with=claim 2 wherein said member comprises an elongate, bendable spring member having one end secured to said base, the other end being free for said up-and-down movement, and wherein said up ward bias is effected through the natural resiliency of said spring member.

4. Toy in accordance wtih claim 3 wherein said accessible portion of said member projects generally horizontally from said base.

5. Toy in accordance with claim 4 wherein said base comprises the body of a simulated animal, and said base supporting means comprises the :pedal extremities .of said animal.

6. Toy in accordance with claim 5 wherein said animal is a four footed one, said body is disposedgenerally horizontally, and said elongate spring member extends longitudinally of said body and projectslongitudinally therefrom.

7. Toy in accordance with claim 6 wherein said elongate spring member projects forwardly from said body and said accessible member portion constitutes the 'head of said simulated animal.

8. Toy in accordance with claim 7 including additionally platform means adapted to be placed on said horizontal surface, said toy being adapted to rest on'said platform means, said platform means comprising means thereon for temporarily holding said head in depressed position.

9. Toy in accordance with claim 8 wherein .said head holding means comprises a sticky substance for temporarily holding said head downward, said bias serving to pull said head from said sticky substance after a short interval of time.

10. Toy in accordance with claim 6 wherein said elongate spring member projects rearwardly from said body and said accessible member portion comprises the tail of said simulated animal.

ll. Toy in accordance with claim 5 wherein said body is upright and is in simulation of a human, and said base supporting means comprises, in addition to said pedal extremities, downwardly extending means terminating substantially level with said extremities.

12. Toy in accordance with claim .11 wherein said last named means extends downwardly and to the rear of said pedal extremities.

13. Toy in accordance with claim l2 wherein said last named means comprises coat tails forming part of the dress of said human.

14. Toy in accordance with claim 4 wherein said accessible member is disposed substantially within an imaginary vertical plane bounding said base supporting means.

15. A somersaulting toy animal comprising a body having supporting feet, a head having a center. of gravity positioned substantially in front of the center of gravity of said body, and a spring affixed to said body near the rear end thereof, extending toward the front and having a downwardly bendable front and affixed to said head and biasing said head upward, said head having a portion contacting, in its uppermost position, said body from the lower side, whereby said spring, when released from downward bent condition, causes said head to strike said body, the impact of said stroke causing said body to somersault upward.

16. A somersaulting toy animal comprising a body having rear feet and widely spaced front feet, ahead positioned over the space between said front feet, and

having a center of gravity positioned substantially in front of the center of gravity of said body and a spring afiixed to said body near the rear end thereof, extending toward the front and having a downwardly bendable front end affixed to said head and biasing said head upward, said head having a portion connecting, in its uppermost position, said body from the lower side, whereby said spring, when released from downward bent condition causes said head to strike said body, the impact of said stroke causing said body to somersault upward.

17. A somersaulting toy animal comprising a body having a hollow trunk open at its lower side and having legs supporting said trunk, a head having a center of gravity positioned substantially in front of the center of gravity of said body, and a spring affixed to said body near the rear end thereof, extending in unstressed condition in said trunk and having a. downwardly bendable front end affixed to said head and biasing said head upward, said head having a neckportion contacting, in its uppermost position, the front end of said trunk from the lower side, whereby said spring, when released from downward bent condition, causes said head to strike said body, the impact of said stroke causing said body to somersault upward.

18. A somersaulting toy animal comprising a body having a hollow trunk open at its lower side and having rear and front legs supporting said trunk, said front legs extending from said trunk to the front in spreading direction, a head having a center of gravity positioned substantially in front of the center of gravity of said body, and a spring affixed to said body near the rear end thereof, extending in unstressed condition in said trunk and having a downwardly bendable front end affixed to said head and biasing said head upward, said head having a neck portion contacting, in its uppermost position the front end of said trunk from the lower side, wherebysaid spring, when released from downward bent condition, causes said head to strike said body, the impact of said stroke causing said body to somersault upward.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 257,469 Card May 9, 1882 1,440,454 Gauthier Jan. 2, 1923 1,542,012 Spilman June 16, 1925 1,817,959 Bloxom Aug. 11, 1931 

